Spain’s prime minister rushes to defuse migrant crisis after 60,000 cross from Morocco in a single day

At least 57 people have died in a massive migrant surge from Morocco toward the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. They were among an estimated 50,000 people who attempted the crossing this week, although Spanish authorities said most had been returned to Morocco by Friday evening. The sudden arrival of tens of thousands of migrants prompted Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to rush to the territory, Italy to suspend the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain and France to order extra checks along its Spanish border. Authorities in Ceuta said that many of those who lost their lives drowned as crowds streamed over the border by land and sea on Thursday, overwhelming border guards. Spanish authorities had said they would try to expel those who entered illegally as quickly as possible, despite a recent ruling by Spain’s supreme court that migrants arriving by sea cannot be returned to Morocco.